


Because of him

by hold_our_destiny



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: ALMOST Character Death, Angst, Bio dad au, Gen, Gift Exchange, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Iron Man 3 AU, Not Iron Man 3 Compliant, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark is Peter's Dad, Worried Tony Stark, i guess, like jesus this is emotional, yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:00:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26587762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hold_our_destiny/pseuds/hold_our_destiny
Summary: He’d miss his life, he’d miss the slow sunday mornings with Peter, making pancakes for breakfast and watching movies all day. He’d miss the way his face lights up when he gets to work on a suit with him, the way his laugh fills the room. God, he’d miss his kid so much.He’s safe, because of you________ORIron man 3 au where Peter is Tony's kid.Basically just different mini scenes from iron man 3 with Peter instead of pepper
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30
Collections: The Friendly Neighborhood Exchange





	Because of him

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bubbablue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubbablue/gifts).



> I saw this prompt and immediately fell in love. I hope you like it!!

Tony should go to therapy.

He’d been meaning to, he swears. Just with the attack on new york, and Fury breathing down his neck, he’d been a little preoccupied. But that’s no excuse.

He’d suggested Peter go to therapy, after having to see his ransom video, deal with his drunkenness and, oh yeah, face obie in a 10 foot tall iron man suit, Tony expected him to have  _ some  _ kind of trauma.

But… he didn’t. If anything, he helped Tony with his trauma, helping him get rid of all the weapons, finding a new element to help his arc reactor and dragging Tony to bed every 48 hours, he was a saint, he was just like Tony- no- he was  _ better. _

He’d woken up too many times screaming, thanking everything holy the room was soundproof. He knew after staying awake for more than 3 days, he’d mess up. He just didn’t know how.

Or how badly.

He was in the wormhole again, trying, begging, praying Peter would just pick up the goddamn phone. He wanted to say goodbye to his kid one last time. He didn’t even know if the fight had gotten to his school. God, what if he was hurt? He gasped as the call cut off the same time JARVIS did. Static filling the silence as the screens glitched and filtered into nothing. 

He looked at the view he had, millions of stars surrounding him. Well, under any other circumstances, he’d consider it beautiful. This is a good place to die. Tony had wondered about the universe for years, trying to find out if there actually were life on other planets. When he was younger, not long after his parents death, he’d ask Rhodey ‘tell me about what you see, about the stars’. Logically, he knew Rhodey wouldn’t be able to see that far as he was flying but-

Yeah, this is a good place to die.

He’d miss his life, he’d miss the slow sunday mornings with Peter, making pancakes for breakfast and watching movies all day. He’d miss the way his face lights up when he gets to work on a suit with him, the way his laugh fills the room. God, he’d miss his kid so much.

_ He’s safe, because of you _

Slowly, he accepted his fate, taking a breath and letting the missile go, eyes wide as he watched it collide with the alien ship, an explosion brightening the sky, he’d never seen anything like it. He shook slightly as he processed the bright expanse of colours littering the space around him, the fire slowly coming towards him. He let his body go limp, eyes closing, he only had one other thought. Please be okay, Pete, be better than me.

HE woke up with a start.

Hearing Peter’s yell, the bed jolting as the teenager moved quickly, Tony sat up and met the eyes of his suit. Wait,  _ his suit?  _

Dismantling the suit quickly, Tony’s eyes searched the room for his kid, hearing a groan from the opposite wall, his eyes landed on a body crumpled at the bottom of it. Tony skidded to his knees in front of the teenager, moving him onto his back slightly roughly and searching for a pulse. He breathed out a sigh when he found one.

Peter groaned again as his eyes fluttered open, hand reaching around to search the back of his head, wincing when it touched a certain area, he tried to sit up. 

“Woah, woah, buster, don’t go doing that” Groggily, Peter nodded, apparently still trying to get his thoughts in order. 

He sat up quickly, “Holy shit, Dad! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay, now lay back down-”

“You were screaming in your sleep and your breathing was all messed up, I was trying to help wake you up but your suit... i don’t know what it did but it did something-” Tony sighed, effectively silencing Peter’s rambles.

“Seriously, are you okay?” Tony nodded, counting in his head and matching his breathing, not letting Peter see him weak.

But still, Peter didn’t move, sat next to his shaking father, in the corner of the spacious bedroom.

“Why don’t you go back to bed, kiddo?” Peter shook his head, an adorable expression on his face as his curls bounced.

“Nope. You stay with me after my nightmares, why can’t I stay with you?” 

Tony breathed out a laugh, shaking his head slightly. He looked up and met his kid’s eyes- god what did he do to make this kid so great- a smile still on his face, before pulling him into a hug. 

He buried his face in the kid’s hair, they always did this, after a nightmare. Nightmares about New York, Afghanistan, Peter thinking Tony’s still lost. They just liked to sit there and breathe each other in, sure they were okay. 

Peter breathed out a sigh, sinking further into the embrace. 

_____________

“Hey, kid. You supposed to be in here?” 

The kid- he couldn’t be older than 15- was sat at the desk chair, swinging his legs widely, head tipped back over in the seat with an almost bored expression on his face. Killian wouldn’t really be objecting, considering a lot of people brought their kids to work but… this was  _ Tony stark’s  _ office.

The kid looked up, grinning, “Yup!” before going back to what he was doing.

“Really? I doubt Stark would let kids play in his office” Killian scoffed, not believing the attitude of this kid.

“I’m not playing,” He said simply.

“Then what are you doing?”

“Waiting”

Not even a second later, Killian felt a presence behind him, turning to see a bigger man than himself, badge reading ‘head of security’, he quickly moved away from the doorway.

The man moved inside, eyes immediately locking on the kid, “Hey Pete, you ready to go? Your dad wants you back by 7”

Killian’s eyes went wide at the realisation, quickly going to walk away.

“Hey you,” He slowly turned around, trying to put on a cool persona again.

“Yeah?” The head of security scowled.

“Don’t but your head into business that doesn’t concern you. If the kid wasn’t supposed to be in there, he wouldn’t be.” He put simply, before making a ‘shoo’ motion with his hand.

________

“Did he bother you, pete?” Happy said quietly once the stranger walked away.

“Nope,” The teenager said simply, before adding, “He was just kinda rude,”

Happy chuckled, one hand on the kid’s back as he led him to the car.

Quickly hopping into the back, the teenager pulled out his phone, texting his dad a quick ‘on our way home :)” and getting a response back, he smiled before putting it back in his pocket.

He looked out the window as they stopped next to a public park, waiting for the light to turn green. Peter’s eyes narrowed as he saw the two men sat oddly close together, passing a briefcase together before one of them turned to leave, stopped as the other said something Peter couldn’t make out from the distance. 

The two men argued for a moment before the other one turned to leave, the first one started- Oh shit.

“Happy-” Peter yelled out before the car was engulfed by a bright light, tipping it over and pushing Peter into the other door.

He squinted his eyes open through the smoke, undoing his seatbelt and falling to the floor quickly, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone, pulling up his dad’s number immediately.

“Pete?”

“Dad” The teenager sobbed out, coughing as he inhaled more of the smoke, he heard some movement on the other end as he assumed his dad called a suit, “There was these two guys arguing and i don't know what happened but there was an explosion and-”

“Wait, wait, peter. Breathe, okay? Can you check on Happy for me? Can you do that?” Peter nodded, mumbling out a ‘mmhm’ before trying to look over the front seat, while simultaneously avoiding the broken glass in the way. 

His eyes landed on the unconscious driver, a few cuts over his body from the glass but nothing major, “he doesn’t look very hurt,”

“That’s good, I’m on my way, you think you can stay put for a while?” Peter agreed before sitting back on the seat, eyes blurring slightly as he let most of his muscles relax, only keeping the phone up to his ear, “You can’t go to sleep, buddy, you gotta stay awake in case you have a concussion, okay?” 

“Yeah, that makes sense” Peter mumbled, already hearing the repulsors getting closer. Damn, he could use a dad hug right now.

________

Peter was cleared to leave pretty quickly, compared to Happy who had to stay in for observation, (Peter gave up begging his dad to let him stay with Happy after 3 hours). 

They quickly headed to the house again, Tony waiting for Peter downstairs as the teenager got his stuff together for a week at Ned’s house- Tony couldn’t let him get caught in the crossfire.

“Why do i have to go, dad? I wanna stay here with you” Peter repeated for the fifth time, Tony’s heart ached every time he did but he wouldn’t be able to budge on this.

“We’ve already talked about this, pete. There’s some bad guys after me and you’ve gotta go somewhere safe-”

“You can say ‘terrorists’ dad, I’m not nine” Peter scoffed, Tony knew he didn’t mean it, he just wanted to seem mad at his dad.

“Come on, now, don’t do this to me, kid. You know i’d let you stay here if i could but I’m not putting you in danger,” -not again, not after afghanistan and new york, not ever-”Now, you remembered your toothbrush?” 

Peter scoffed but nodded, as both of them walked towards the front door, opening it to see someone already stood there, hand raised as if to knock. She stumbled back slightly, at seeing the father and son.

Peter didn’t listen as his dad and the woman- maya, she said- argued, opting to instead, look out the window, watching the various boats across the sea.

His eyes widened as he saw helicopters and-  _ oh god not again- _

“Dad!” He turned to see his father’s eyes widen as he saw what was coming towards the house, arms moving in a way Peter couldn’t describe and soon he was encased in a suit, one of his dad’s suits. The display lit up as it activated, JARVIS giving him a quick greeting before taking over the suit and helping Maya out of the rubble.

As they crossed the front door, Peter looked back, desperately searching for his dad, eyes scanning the destruction. It was barely a second before the suit was retracting and flying back through the rubble, down into the water. Peter held his breath for a moment, trying to find and evidence his dad was alive.

It felt like he stood there for hours, looking into the dark sea, before he heaved out a sigh and turned around. Maya was looking at him, wearing a solemn look on her face, before pulling the kid into her arms. Peter was sure at some point in their very brief interaction ( _ God it happened so quickly _ ) she’d mentioned having a kid of her own, he guessed this was some maternal instinct. Peter didn’t care as he choked out a sob, letting the tears fall freely as he processed what had just happened. His worst fear, the thing that had haunted his nightmares for the past five years-

He was gone.

_____________

“Woah, is that iron man?”

Tony paused, “Technically i am,”

“Cool” The same childlike wonder that Peter had-  _ has, he’s not- he can’t be- _

Tony was still cold, chills running through his body under the poncho he stole from the mannequin. He’d barely been able to get out of the suit before JARVIS shut down, not being able to ask about Peter-  _ not being able to know if he’s alive, he has to be alive, he has to be _ \- 

“Okay, here’s what I need-” Tony continued, trying to distract himself from the growing darkness in his mind, not having taken his anxiety medication today ad already regretting it. Well, he says  _ already _ , but it's past 10pm at this point.

The kid- Harley- hurried away to get what Tony needed. First plan of action, get JARVIS online and check on Peter, then deal with everyone else.

_________

Yeah the next few days didn’t go too well either, and suddenly he was locked up and tied to a bed frame in a cold, concrete warehouse.

And there was maya hansen talking to him and he couldn’t concentrate because _ if she was here, where’s Peter- _

“Do you know what my old man used to say to me” Tony couldn’t keep the defeat off his face as he looked towards the voice, killian rounding the corner as he spoke, “One of his favourite of many sayings, the early bird gets the worm… but the second mouse gets the cheese.” 

He walked down the concrete steps, carrying a briefcase carefully but trying to act nonchalant about it all. Tony could see the creases in his eyebrows, the flexin of his wrist as he talked… he was scared, well, they both were.

Tony quickly put up his mask, the one Peter used to hate seeing because  _ come on, dad, don’t hide your emotions like that, you always tell me it’s- _ “not still pissed off about the switzerland thing, now, are you?”

Killian set the briefcase down on the table behind him and turned around to face tony, hands out, almost pleadingly, “how could i be pissed at you, tony? I’m here to thank you” He walked forward and Tony couldn’t help but lean away.

He put on a face of boredom as the man continued, “You’ve given me the greatest gift that anyone has ever given me… desperation. If you think back to switzerland, you said you’d meet me on the rooftop, right? Well for the first,” he paused, thinking for a moment, “20 minutes? I actually thought you’d come… For the next hour, well, i thought about taking that one step shortcut to the lobby if… you know what i mean” He shook his head slightly, as if breaking a trance, the memories invading his head.

“Well… I’m still trying to figure out what happened to the first mouse-” 

“But as I looked out over that city, nobody knew I was there… nobody could see me, no one was even looking, i had a thought that would guide me for years to come,” He pointed at the billionaire, “Anonymity, Tony,”  _ Don't point at me, don’t put the blame on- _

“Thanks to you, it’s been my mantra ever since, you simply rule from behind the scenes…”

Tony zoned out slightly, trying to take in all the information that was being dumped on him at once.

“You have met him, i assume-”

“Yes,” Tony answered, looking down, “Sir lawrence obliviet”

“I know he’s over the top sometimes but it’s not entirely my fault, he has a ten- he- he’s a stage actor” He explained, “They said his leer is the toast of croydon- wherever that is- anyway, the point is, ever since the big guy with the hammer fell out of the sky, subtlety’s kinda had its day,”

“What’s next for you and your world?”

“Well, I wanted to repay you the self-same gift that you imparted to me…” 

He leant down in his seat and rolled a few marbles on the floor, using a remote to activate them to show- 

Oh god, no-

“Desperation”

Tony gasped slightly, eyes widening as he saw Peter- his Peter- his kid- strapped to a chair- an incline, god, the metal bars were inches thick. He was writing around in pain, the video- the feed- was muted but Tony's heart broke as he saw him scream wordlessly, the red light flowing through his veins.

“Now, this is live, i don’t know if you can tell but at this stage, the body is trying to decide whether to accept extremis, or… just give up, and if it gives up,” Tony flinched, rattling the bars of the bed frame, yet killian continued on, “I have to say, the detonation is… quite spectacular”

He paused for a moment, “But until that point, it’s really just a lot of pain… we haven’t even talked salary yet,” He moved forward suddenly, raising a hand around Tony’s neck and quickly cutting off his air.

“What kind of perk package are you thinking of?”

_______

Peter was burning. From the inside out, fire flowing through his veins- oh god make it stop.

He was screaming, trying to move but was restrained, he couldn't break through the bindings around him. He was screaming for his dad, for maya, for anyone. God, he hoped she was okay. He couldn’t even remember getting there, only Killian getting into their hotel room- got he killed someone to get in- 

The pain let up for a few seconds and Peter took the time to breathe, try to get his thoughts in order. The cell around him was spacious, no was other than him was in there, but that didn’t matter. He saw a camera in front of him, red light flashing and he quickly realised how messed up he must look, sweat rolling down his face mixed in with the tears. 

He looked into the camera, savouring the moments he had before the pain came back. It felt like a lifetime before it did, but it was probably only a few seconds.

“Dad- dad don’t- don’t give him-” His words were cut off as another wave of pain hit him, making him scream before it became too much, his body giving up.

________

“Killian, please, what do you want?” Tony begged, after seeing Peter like that, he couldn’t keep the desperation out of his voice.

“I’ve already told you what i want, Tony, I want to work with you,” He said simply, not bothered by the image of a teenager- a fucking 15 year old- screaming in pain.

“Okay, okay fine just- just please help him, stop this,” Tears streamed down his face as tony spoke.

Killian pretended to think about it for a while, before chuckling slightly and looking up.

“I wonder…” He spoke slowly, “How many people have seen Tony Stark cry,” He chuckled again, before slowly walking out.

“Maya, please…” Tony sobbed, eyes landed on the woman still stood in the corner.

“Tony, you know i can’t. Killian’s… he’s not stable, he- he’s a brilliant man but-”

“But he’s a fucking psycho! That’s what! He kidnapped a fucking fifteen year old kid and put him- is still putting him through torture.” Tony dissolved into sobs, hanging his head. He heard footsteps slowly retreat, before Maya spoke again.

“I’m sorry, Tony, really”

_______

Tony’s head rose as he heard as he heard an alarm go off, no on of those big alarms that blare through the building and make you feel like your head is going to explode- no- one of those small alarms people have on their- wait.

One of the croonies (tony refuses to call them guards because who the hell are they guarding? He’s tied up) picked up the dora the explorer watch and stared at it inquisitively.

“Be careful with that, it’s limited edition” Tony muttered, a defeated tone in his words.

“Don’t tell me what to do” The man grumbled, a scowl on his face.

“You break it you bought it-” Tony was cut off as the man’s boot came down heavily on the watch.

“I think i bought it-”

“Okay, that wasn’t mine, that actually belonged to a sister of my friends and because of that… I’m killing you first,” Tony heard both men chuckle at that.

“Yeah, sure bud,”

Tony waited a couple minutes before asking, “How far is it from Tennessee to here?” 

“324 miles,” The man answered quickly, a smirk on his face.

God, tony couldn't wait to blast that off.

__________

Peter’s hurt, they have him, he’s hurt and he’s in pain and-

Tony definitely wasn’t in the right frame of mind for this fight, but then again, when was he ever?

Jumping from different platforms, working on auto-pilot as he tried and tried and tried again to get into a suit, any suit, before-

“DAD-” The voice was cut off with a scream but Tony was already running, Peter the first thing on his mind. 

“Peter? Come on, buddy, tell me where you are,” Tony shouted, concern etching itself into his tone and he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“Dad! Dad- please, please just-” He was cut off again by a choked off sob, and Tony’s eyes landed on an upside-down body, still strapped into the chair, but a slab of metal crushing his chest from above.

“Peter! Oh, god, Peter. It’s okay, I’m gonna get you, okay? It’s gonna be fine.” Tony said, more to himself than his son, as he shuffled towards him, reaching a hand out.

“Dad, please, please don’t leave me-”

“I’m not gonna leave you, okay? You gotta trust me,” He shuffled to the side as far as possible before reaching out, thinkin for a moment before speaking, “Pete, you’re gonna have to let go, okay? I’m gonna catch you, I swear,” Peter sobbed in reply and Tony’s heart broke more if that was even possible.

But still, he nodded, tears rolling down his face. He managed to get an arm out and reached towards Tony, fingers barely touching. He steeled himself for a moment before wiggling himself out of the tight spade and slipping down and-

Tony… didn’t catch him.

Hand outstretched, face contorted in pain as he screamed out, Tony would never forget that image of Peter. He was sure his face looked the same, his heart clearly shattering as his eyes betrayed his emotions.

God, not him, anyone but him, please. Please, just- just not him, not Peter. You can’t- he’s done nothing-

Tony dissolved into sobs.

“Such a shame, y’know, if it was me, I woulda caught him-” Killian spoke clearly behind Tony.

Tony lunged.

_______

Tony’s eyes widened as Killian stared into his face, he was losing the fight and they both knew it, Killian was recovering from everything Tony threw at him. At some point throughout, Tony had accepted it, he didn’t want to- he couldn’t- 

“Peter didn’t deserve you, Tony, I would've made sure he was okay, made sure he was safe… not just running away to Tennessee,” He began, Tony’s eyes shone with anger, “You gave your address to a terrorist? Really? It’s like you don’t care about him at all-”

Killian collapsed suddenly and Tony’s eyes snapped up, landing on a figure stood behind Killian’s body, a piece of metal raised above their head, a determined look on their face-

Peter?

“P-Pete?” Tony stuttered, a disbelieving look on his face.

“Dad-” Peter sobbed but Tony was quick to react, calling one of the last suits to incase Killian, flying him up and away, Tony smiled before surging forward and wrapping the teenager up in a hug.

“Peter- Peter, oh god, Peter,” Tony repeated, tears falling freely now, soaking into the kid’s hair. He held him tight, barely able to let up.

“It’s okay, I’m here, we’re okay now,” Peter was sobbing into his shoulder, neither of them wanting to let go.

“God, kiddo, I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to leave you but-”

“I thought you were dead,” Peter mumbled, still crying into his dad’s shoulder, just a little bit less now.

Tony paused.

_ “What?” _

“At the house, you were in there when it collapsed and i didn’t see the suit come out, i couldn’t see you and i just-  _ i thought-” _

“Shhh, it’s okay not, baby, we’re okay. I’m here, I’m okay, just breathe, okay?” Peter nodded into his shoulder.

“God, kid, when we get home, we’re gonna sit down and watch star wars, all of them, we’re not going to leave the couch for _ days, _ ” Tony chuckled.

“That sounds nice,” Peter chuckled with him before sobering slightly, “Where- where is home now?” 

Tony froze, eyes widening, of course, the Malibu house wasn’t there anymore.

“We can set up in the tower, I can get- i can try to find DUM-E and U tomorrow, and we can move in then” Peter sighed, then nodded, tension leaving his body as the adrenaline wore off.

He stumbled a bit as Tony pulled away, legs shaking under him. Tony supported him with an arm around the waist.

“I- uh- I think i need to sit down,” Peter said.

He looked up blearily to meet Tony’s worried face, or to feel the ground coming up to meet him.

_________

Peter woke up fairly slowly, body no longer in pain and surely starved of sleep.

“Hey, kid,” Now, Peter recognised that voice, eyes snapping to the side to see Happy in a bed identical to his, a few feet away.

“Happy? Are you okay?” Peter rushed out quickly, but the man only laughed.

“God, kid, you collapse in front of your old man and you’re worried about me? You really are the best of us,” He said with a smile.

“Sorry… Am i okay?” 

“Yeah, i think so, just malnourished. Tony’s really worried about you, I finally managed to get him to go to sleep,” He nodded to the other side of Pete’s bed and he turned to see the man in question hunched over in his seat, head resting on a balled up fist and eyes shut gently. He breathed out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“I didn’t- i thought he was-”

“I know,” Happy smiled sadly, offering Peter as much support as he could give from a few feet away.

“You should get some more sleep, kid,” Happy said softly, almost whispering. Peter only nodded, Taking his father’s spare hand, and closing his eyes softly. 

He’s safe, because of Tony.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Did you like it? Did you get emotional? 
> 
> Comments and kudos make my day


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